CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“She is ready,” said Limnoreia suddenly, as if hearing a silent call from her sister beneath the water. Posy froze in anticipation. This was what they had come for. This would be the end of their quest for the princess Evanthe. Her eyes roved the surface of the water, still and shining as black glass. Nothing happened.
“Here,” Adamaris beckoned a slender hand to them. “We must ready you to enter our home.”
“Pardon me?” asked Kyran, confusion written across his face. Posy almost laughed at the courtesy in his voice at such a moment, though she felt a quick sting of foreboding.
“We may not bring the princess to you,” explained Limnoreia, her pale blue eyes wide. “As you can see, there is no way out for you here. The only way out is the other side of the Glooming. And you may not find that any other way than through the water.”
Posy did laugh now. “And as you can see, we don’t have fins and tails as you do,” she stated, an edge of mistrust resurfacing into her conscience.
Limnoreia smiled sweetly at her. “Of course not, my darling. That is why we must ready you. You must don these.”
Posy and Kyran both gazed to where Limnoreia gestured by their feet, but saw only slick wet stone. The mermaid’s tapering fingers reached to pluck something from the rock, and as she raised her arm, a filmy, glistening thing hung from it, visible only because of the glint of light reflecting off it.
“I’m most definitely not donning that,” Posy exclaimed, and crossed her arms as Kyran turned to smirk at her.
“It will allow you to move swiftly and smoothly through the water,” stated Adamaris calmly. “And most importantly, it will allow you to breathe. It is not as it seems.”
“Huh,” Posy rolled her eyes. “So I am beginning to understand.”
“These garments contain magic in them,” Adamaris’ voice took on a slight note of defense. “Our offering of them is not to be scoffed at, young maid.”
“I’m not scoffing at your offer,” Posy said apologetically. “I—”
“Posy—that is, we both—are overtired and more than a little overwhelmed by our journey,” Kyran cut in, directing his most charming smile at the mermaids. “We accept your offer and thank you. What must we do?”
“You need only drape the garment over you, and it will do the rest, Prince.” Limnoreia lifted her arms, and Kyran bent to take the silky mantles from her. Kyran placed a hand on Posy’s arm and nudged her back. She knew that he meant to put his cloak on first, to save her from any danger that might be hidden within it. She snatched the second cloak from his hands before he could stop her, and she watched it unfold, rippling like liquid from her hands to the stone floor. In a single moment, without another thought, she had swung it around and draped it over her shoulders.
She could see Kyran still, and the frown on his face as he watched her, struggling to unfold his own garment. But he was not the same. He swam before her eyes as if she saw him through a watery mist. A pleasant warmth spread from her shoulders, upward to her face, and all the way to her feet. Suddenly, she felt her lungs seem to grow heavy, as if the atmosphere pressed on her. She was nearly gasping just to pull a breath into her body. Posy’s panicked eyes found the outline of the sister mermaids in the water, and she could make out the laughing smile on both of their faces. Did they mean to kill her this way—was that the trick in it? She tried to speak, but could not. She could only pull the air around her with all her strength, trying to force it into her lungs.
“You will not learn so quickly, my dear,” said Adamaris brightly. “Though you try ever so bravely. It would take years for you to become accustomed to breathing out of water, in this horrible shallow air. Hurry now, jump into the water and all will be well.”
Kyran had his own garment on now, though the moment he had placed it on his shoulders it had seemed to disappear as if it had become a part of his skin. He grabbed Posy’s hand and in one violent movement pulled her off the stone ledge. Both of them plunged into the icy black water below.
The water should have pierced them with its cold, should have shocked and frozen them from any movement. Though Posy could feel its chill caress on her skin, it did not penetrate any deeper. Her body remained pleasingly warm, and she could feel a tight, smooth resistance on every inch of her new slick skin. She looked down at her hands and body in curiosity, but could discern no difference. She took an experimental breath and found that water flowed into her mouth like air, soft and effortless.
“Very good, very good!” exclaimed Limnoreia, clapping her small hands together like a pleased child. Posy could clearly see her now—so clearly and intensely that it almost hurt her eyes. Limnoreia’s beautiful blue eyes shone like sapphires, and her hair floated around her like a cloud of spun gold. If the mermaids had been beautiful before, they were radiant now, here in their true home.
Kyran’s voice broke through Posy’s wandering thoughts. “Lead us to my sister now.” His voice was courteous, but there was no mistaking the command.
Adamaris bowed her gleaming auburn head and flitted away.
Posy and Kyran found how natural they were now, beneath the lake. Its darkness became weightless and clear, its icy depths only a cool touch to their skin, its dense waters easily pierced as they plunged after the mermaids, deeper and deeper.
How deep are we? crossed Posy’s mind in wonder as she trailed the mermaids. She and Kyran had already descended so deeply in the earth before even entering the lake. What a weight of water, land and stone must sit above their heads now! The thought made her shudder and suddenly have an odd premonition, as if they were being led into a trap. Had it been only two days ago that she had been in the camp of the centaurs, sleeping and eating, breathing the fresh forest air, walking through the forest talking with Caris and speaking of the Author? Posy wondered, with a darkening of her heart, if the Author had written this place they were in now, this lake with its black, shadowy beauty, and if he watched as she and Kyran tore through his story and changed every word.
“Here is our home,” Adamaris’ voice rang like a bell over her shoulder as she pointed one long finger.
Posy saw before them a great rise of stones on the floor of the lake, like a chain of small mountains. She exchanged a glance with Kyran. This was no mere rise of stones, his look said, and she had felt it already. It was a palace, a kingdom within itself, that lay beneath those deceptively natural rocks. Perhaps it was the magic in their glossy cloaks, now closer than their own skin, that allowed Posy and Kyran to see it for what it truly was.
Soon they were swimming through a pair of mammoth doors, into the side of the rocks, entering the palace of the mermaids. Posy clung to all the trust she could muster. It was too late now, wasn’t it, for second thoughts? They were entirely in the keep of these sisters. They must hope the purpose that united them was strong. Strong enough.
Posy’s last thought before the heavy doors grated shut behind them was a question—a simple one, but one that sent an ominous chill through her. She took a breath and put it into words. “Why do the three of you need such a large place to live? Were you not banned from the Plot alone?”
Seraphine seemed to materialize from the stone walls of the palace. Her white arms moved gracefully beside her and her shapely hips and tail glistened like a water serpent. Her eyes held sadness, but a glint of her small white teeth shone behind her smile, like a wordless warning. “You are correct, of course,” she agreed slowly, with a nod of her dark head. “But that was long ago. You will find we are far from alone now, my dear.”